With so much going on every weekend in all corners of the Bay Area, it's a great idea to check out KCBS Radio's guide to events and traffic. Sign up for the RADIO.COM app, make us one of your favorite stations and on Fridays, we'll send you the Major Timesaver rundown of things to do and ways to get there.
Without any further delay, here is what's going on this weekend.
These are some of the highlights for May 31 to June 2. Get a shot of Hellenic culture and cuisine this weekend at the Greek Festival in San Jose’s Rose Garden neighborhood. In the East Bay, the Berkeley World Music Festival starts on Saturday and continues on Sunday in conjunction with Downtown Berkeley’s Sunday Streets. A “reimagined and updated” Union Street Fair will debut in the Cow Hollow neighborhood of San Francisco, along with the 99th running of a venerable North Beach tradition, the Statuto Race. The Biggest Little Airshow takes place in San Carlos, at the Hiller Aviation Museum while the Sonoma Raceway rounds out the outdoors-events menu with their inaugural Sonoma Speed Festival.
SOUTH BAY:
Fri, May 31 (5pm-10pm); Sat, June 1 (11am-10pm); and Sun, Jun 2 (11am-9pm):
San Jose Greek Festival takes place in the city’s Rose Garden neighborhood, at Saint Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church at 1260 Davis St. There will be authentic Greek food, including pastries, a traditional marketplace; live music, dancing, entertainment and crafts.
- Pro tip: A free shuttle serves the free parking lots at 1900, 1960, and 2021 The Alameda; and a coupon for free admission can be found here. If you’d prefer to take public transit, you can hop on VTA’s No. 22 bus line that serves the area from downtown San Jose.
- Areas and roadways affected: In San Jose, there will be extra traffic on Davis Street and the adjacent surface streets (Morse, McKendrie, Chapman).
EAST BAY:
Sat, Jun 1 (noon-8pm) and Sun, Jun 2 (12:30pm-8pm). The 16th Annual
Berkeley World Music Festival takes place downtown. Things kick off on Saturday with a concert in People’s Park from 1pm-6pm, along with performances at nearby venues. On Sunday, groups will perform at Berkeley’s Sunday Streets event and also in various bars, restaurants, nightclubs, dance halls, etc.
- Pro tip: From the Downtown Berkeley BART station, you can hop on the No. 6 bus at Shattuck Avenue and Allston Way and a 4-minute ride will take you to the People’s Park/Telegraph Avenue area for the Festival events.
- Areas and roadways affected: Dwight Way, Haste, and other streets in and around the Telegraph Avenue area will see even heavier-than-normal weekend traffic, including foot traffic.
Sun, June 2 from Noon-6pm: Berkeley kicks off its 7th annual season of Sunday Streets. Telegraph Avenue will be closed for four blocks from Dwight Way to Bancroft Way. There will be live music, juggling demonstrations, a game zone, skateboard ramps and kids' area.
- Pro tip: From the Downtown Berkeley BART station, the 851/Broadway bus line will bring you to within a block of the Sunday Streets venue (hop off on Durant Avenue at Dana Street). AC Transit’s Line 6 also works, either from BART or from Downtown Oakland.
- Areas and roadways affected: With Telegraph Avenue closed for four blocks and the Berkeley World Music Festival continuing into its second day (see above), there will be increased congestion in the entire area.
PENINSULA:
Sat, Jun 1 from 10am-1pm: San Carlos: Hiller Aviation Museum has its
Biggest Little Air Show featuring a vintage bi-plane performance, along with model aircraft of all kinds, including radio-controlled warbirds, helicopters and drones. KCBS Radio's own George Rask will be the Master of Ceremonies.
- Pro tip: The museum is located at the San Carlos Airport, just off the Holly Street/Redwood Shores Parkway exit from Hwy-101. There’s free parking in the museum lot. Airshow tickets are available online.
SAN FRANCISCO:
Sat, Jun 1 and Sun, Jun 2 from 10am-6pm: In San Francisco’s Cow Hollow neighborhood, the “reimagined and updated”
Union Street Fair takes place on Union Street between Gough and Fillmore Streets. Features two stages of live music, art and craft vendors, an international cuisine court, carnival games, craft beer and wine.
- Areas and roadways affected: In addition to the closure of Union Street, Octavia, Laguna, Buchanan, and Webster Streets will all be closed between Green and Filbert Street from 12:01am on Saturday to 11:59pm on Sunday. Fillmore Street will remain open all day but is likely to be heavily congested during the fair hours.
Sun, Jun 2 from 9am-Noon: San Francisco: 99th running of the Statuto Race, which commemorates the creation of the first Italian Constitution.
- Pro tip: From 7am-noon, one block of Stockton Street will be closed between Union and Filbert streets; and two blocks of North Point Street will be closed between Stockton Street and the Embarcadero. On the Embarcadero portion of the course, runners will use the sidewalk in both directions.
- Areas and roadways affected: With the largest part of the race taking place on the sidewalk (of the Embarcadero), Sunday morning traffic and parking in North Beach and the waterfront area shouldn’t be much worse than normal.
NORTH BAY/SOLANO:
Fri, May 31 starting at 8pm and continuing all weekend long, until Mon, Jun 3 at 4am: San Rafael:
Second Street will be closed in a one-block stretch between Tamalpais Avenue and Hetherton Street in order to allow for construction work on the SMART Train’s Larkspur extension.
- Pro tip: This weekend-long work will also affect the San Rafael Transit Center’s bus operations: Passengers may need to catch their bus at an unfamiliar platform. SMART Train representatives will be on site to assist riders.
- Areas and roadways affected: Second Street drivers wanting to get onto northbound Highway 101 can take 4th Street instead and turn onto Irwin Street, which leads directly to the freeway. Second Street drivers wanting to get onto the highway going south should turn onto southbound A Street, which becomes Andersen Drive, travel about 1.2 miles, and turn left onto Francisco Boulevard West to the freeway.
Fri, May 31 thru Sun, June 2: Sonoma Raceway: The inaugural Sonoma Speed Festival features historic vintage racing cars in a celebration of flat-out wheel-to-wheel racing, along with displays of racing cars from the Brass Era through current day machines, vintage dragsters and prototypes. Events run from 8am to the late afternoon.
- Pro tip: Since this is the inaugural year for this event, it’s hard to know exactly how popular it might be and thus how it might affect traffic on Highway 37. Keep in mind, Lakeville Highway and Highway 121 are among the access routes to this area. Lakeville has been seeing a lot of slow traffic lately due to Caltrans tree work. So if Hwy-37 does become congested, Lakeville may be a less-than-ideal detour route.
- Areas and roadways affected: Potential extra traffic on Highway 37, Highway 121 and Lakeville Highway.
